Tampa-based cybersecurity company ConnectSecure has announced a $100,000 gift to expand
\n the Cyber Florida Security Operations Center Apprenticeship Program (SOCAP) at USF.<\/p>\n
During the CyberBay 2026 Summit, Cyber Florida Senior Director Ernie Ferraresso invited
\n USF President Moez Limayem and a group of students to the stage to accept the check.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnectSecure\u2019s generous donation to expand Cyber Florida\u2019s SOCAP program by five
\n seats means more USF students will graduate with hands-on, real-world cybersecurity
\n experience that strengthens their resumes and makes them highly sought-after by employers,\u201d
\n said Ferraresso.<\/p>\n
USF\u2019s SOCAP is a paid internship program that trains students to detect and respond
\n to real cyber threats. Participants work inside the Cyber Florida Security Operations
\n Center \u2014 a student-operated center that augments cybersecurity services for USF and
\n other public-sector organizations. The students help protect these organizations from
\n cyberattacks and assist with security investigations.<\/p>\n
Tim Kircher, who is a senior in the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity
\n and Computing, serves as a security analyst for Cyber Florida at USF. He focuses on
\n triaging security alerts and providing detailed recommendations to USF IT department
\n to help protect the university\u2019s infrastructure and network.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis program has been instrumental in my development as a cybersecurity professional
\n and has equipped me with the tools I need to succeed in the future,\u201d Kircher said.
\n \u201cThis program teaches conversational cybersecurity, a skill that enables individuals
\n to speak with people across various sectors about topics within cybersecurity. Being
\n able to merge communication with technical skills is essential in an industry where
\n technology and automation are growing at an exponential rate.\u201d<\/p>\n
ConnectSecure empowers IT professionals with tools to safeguard their business-critical
\n systems and data from vulnerabilities and exploits. The company\u2019s CEO, Peter Bellini,
\n spoke at the conference, sharing the story of how the company began, how it grew and
\n the role USF plays in its continued success thanks to the Bulls on the ConnectSecure
\n team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s what this conference is all about, bringing together businesses, schools and
\n the government to help solve this great problem with cybersecurity,\u201d he said, adding
\n that the company was getting ready to hire several more USF graduates. \u201cThis is just
\n another example of CyberBay\u2019s power.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa-based cybersecurity company ConnectSecure has announced a $100,000 gift to expand the Cyber Florida Security Operations Center Apprenticeship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-190495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}